The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean

  CHAPTER XIII.

  Notable discovery at the spouting cliffs--The mysterious green monsterexplained--We are thrown into unutterable terror by the idea that Jack isdrowned--The Diamond Cave.

  "Come, Jack," cried Peterkin, one morning about three weeks after ourreturn from our long excursion, "let's be jolly to-day, and do somethingvigorous. I'm quite tired of hammering and hammering, hewing andscrewing, cutting and butting, at that little boat of ours, that seems ashard to build as Noah's ark; let us go on an excursion to the mountaintop, or have a hunt after the wild ducks, or make a dash at the pigs. I'mquite flat--flat as bad ginger-beer--flat as a pancake; in fact, I wantsomething to rouse me, to toss me up, as it were. Eh! what do you say toit?"

  "Well," answered Jack, throwing down the axe with which he was just aboutto proceed towards the boat, "if that's what you want, I would recommendyou to make an excursion to the water-spouts; the last one we had to dowith tossed you up a considerable height, perhaps the next will send youhigher, who knows, if you're at all reasonable or moderate in yourexpectations!"

  "Jack, my dear boy," said Peterkin, gravely, "you are really becoming toofond of jesting. It's a thing I don't at all approve of, and if youdon't give it up, I fear that, for our mutual good, we shall have topart."

  "Well, then, Peterkin," replied Jack, with a smile, "what would youhave?"

  "Have?" said Peterkin, "I would _have_ nothing. I didn't say I wanted to_have_; I said that I wanted to _do_."

  "By the by," said I, interrupting their conversation, "I am reminded bythis that we have not yet discovered the nature of yon curious appearancethat we saw near the water-spouts, on our journey round the island.Perhaps it would be well to go for that purpose."

  "Humph!" ejaculated Peterkin, "I know the nature of it well enough."

  "What was it?" said I.

  "It was of a _mysterious_ nature to be sure!" said he, with a wave of hishand, while he rose from the log on which he had been sitting, andbuckled on his belt, into which he thrust his enormous club.

  "Well then, let us away to the water-spouts," cried Jack, going up to thebower for his bow and arrows; "and bring your spear, Peterkin. It may beuseful."

  We now, having made up our minds to examine into this matter, salliedforth eagerly in the direction of the water-spout rocks, which, as I havebefore mentioned, were not far from our present place of abode. Onarriving there we hastened down to the edge of the rocks, and gazed overinto the sea, where we observed the pale-green object still distinctlyvisible, moving its tail slowly to and fro in the water.

  "Most remarkable!" said Jack.

  "Exceedingly curious," said I.

  "Beats everything!" said Peterkin.

  "Now, Jack," he added, "you made such a poor figure in your last attemptto stick that object, that I would advise you to let me try it. If ithas got a heart at all, I'll engage to send my spear right through thecore of it; if it hasn't got a heart, I'll send it through the spot whereits heart ought to be."

  "Fire away, then, my boy," replied Jack with a laugh.

  Peterkin immediately took the spear, poised it for a second or two abovehis head, then darted it like an arrow into the sea. Down it wentstraight into the centre of the green object, passed quite through it,and came up immediately afterwards, pure and unsullied, while themysterious tail moved quietly as before!

  "Now," said Peterkin, gravely, "that brute is a heartless monster; I'llhave nothing more to do with it."

  "I'm pretty sure now," said Jack, "that it is merely a phosphoric light;but I must say I'm puzzled at its staying always in that exact spot."

  I also was much puzzled, and inclined to think with Jack that it must bephosphoric light; of which luminous appearance we had seen much while onour voyage to these seas. "But," said I, "there is nothing to hinder usfrom diving down to it, now that we are sure it is not a shark."

  "True," returned Jack, stripping off his clothes; "I'll go down, Ralph,as I'm better at diving than you are. Now then, Peterkin, out o' theroad!" Jack stepped forward, joined his hands above his head, bent overthe rocks, and plunged into the sea. For a second or two the spraycaused by his dive hid him from view, then the water became still, and wesaw him swimming far down in the midst of the green object. Suddenly hesank below it, and vanished altogether from our sight! We gazedanxiously down at the spot where he had disappeared, for nearly a minute,expecting every moment to see him rise again for breath; but fully aminute passed, and still he did not reappear. Two minutes passed! andthen a flood of alarm rushed in upon my soul, when I considered thatduring all my acquaintance with him, Jack had never stayed underwatermore than a minute at a time; indeed seldom so long.

  "Oh, Peterkin!" I said, in a voice that trembled with increasing anxiety,"something has happened. It is more than three minutes now!" ButPeterkin did not answer and I observed that he was gazing down into thewater with a look of intense fear mingled with anxiety, while his facewas overspread with a deadly paleness. Suddenly he sprang to his feetand rushed about in a frantic state, wringing his hands, and exclaiming,"Oh, Jack, Jack! he is gone! It must have been a shark, and he is gonefor ever!"

  For the next five minutes I know not what I did. The intensity of myfeelings almost bereft me of my senses. But I was recalled to myself byPeterkin seizing me by the shoulder and staring wildly into my face,while he exclaimed, "Ralph! Ralph! perhaps he has only fainted. Dive forhim, Ralph!"

  It seemed strange that this did not occur to me sooner. In a moment Irushed to the edge of the rocks, and, without waiting to throw off mygarments, was on the point to spring into the waves, when I observedsomething black rising up through the green object. In another momentJack's head rose to the surface, and he gave a wild shout, flinging backthe spray from his locks, as was his wont after a dive. Now we werealmost as much amazed at seeing him reappear, well and strong, as we hadbeen at first at his non-appearance; for, to the best of our judgment, hehad been nearly ten minutes under water, perhaps longer, and it requiredno exertion of our reason to convince us that this was utterly impossiblefor mortal man to do and retain his strength and faculties. It wastherefore with a feeling akin to superstitious awe that I held down myhand and assisted him to clamber up the steep rocks. But no such feelingaffected Peterkin. No sooner did Jack gain the rocks and seat himself onone, panting for breath, than he threw his arms round his neck, and burstinto a flood of tears. "Oh, Jack, Jack!" said he, "where were you? Whatkept you so long?"

  After a few moments Peterkin became composed enough to sit still andlisten to Jack's explanation, although he could not restrain himself fromattempting to wink every two minutes at me, in order to express his joyat Jack's safety. I say he attempted to wink, but I am bound to add thathe did not succeed, for his eyes were so much swollen with weeping, thathis frequent attempts only resulted in a series of violent and altogetheridiotical contortions of the face, that were very far from expressingwhat he intended. However, I knew what the poor fellow meant by it, so Ismiled to him in return, and endeavoured to make believe that he waswinking.

  "Now, lads," said Jack, when we were composed enough to listen to him,"yon green object is not a shark; it is a stream of light issuing from acave in the rocks. Just after I made my dive, I observed that this lightcame from the side of the rock above which we are now sitting; so Istruck out for it, and saw an opening into some place or other thatappeared to be luminous within. For one instant I paused to thinkwhether I ought to venture. Then I made up my mind, and dashed into it.For you see, Peterkin, although I take some time to tell this, ithappened in the space of a few seconds, so that I knew I had wind enoughin me to serve to bring me out o' the hole and up to the surface again.Well, I was just on the point of turning,--for I began to feel a littleuncomfortable in such a place,--when it seemed to me as if there was afaint light right above me. I darted upwards, and found my head out ofwater. This relieved me greatly, for I now felt that I could take in airenough to enable me to return the way I came. Then
it all at onceoccurred to me that I might not be able to find the way out again; but,on glancing downwards, my mind was put quite at rest by seeing the greenlight below me streaming into the cave, just like the light that we hadseen streaming out of it, only what I now saw was much brighter.

  "At first I could scarcely see anything as I gazed around me, it was sodark; but gradually my eyes became accustomed to it, and I found that Iwas in a huge cave, part of the walls of which I observed on each side ofme. The ceiling just above me was also visible, and I fancied that Icould perceive beautiful glittering objects there, but the farther end ofthe cave was shrouded in darkness. While I was looking around me ingreat wonder, it came into my head that you two would think I wasdrowned; so I plunged down through the passage again in a great hurry,rose to the surface, and--here I am!"

  When Jack concluded his recital of what he had seen in this remarkablecave, I could not rest satisfied till I had dived down to see it; which Idid, but found it so dark, as Jack had said, that I could scarcely seeanything. When I returned, we had a long conversation about it, duringwhich I observed that Peterkin had a most lugubrious expression on hiscountenance.

  "What's the matter, Peterkin?" said I.

  "The matter?" he replied. "It's all very well for you two to be talkingaway like mermaids about the wonders of this cave, but you know I must becontent to hear about it, while you are enjoying yourselves down therelike mad dolphins. It's really too bad."

  "I'm very sorry for you, Peterkin, indeed I am," said Jack, "but wecannot help you. If you would only learn to dive--"

  "Learn to fly, you might as well say!" retorted Peterkin, in a very sulkytone.

  "If you would only consent to keep still," said I, "we would take youdown with us in ten seconds."

  "Hum!" returned Peterkin; "suppose a salamander was to propose to you'only to keep still,' and he would carry you through a blazing fire in afew seconds, what would you say?"

  We both laughed and shook our heads, for it was evident that nothing wasto be made of Peterkin in the water. But we could not rest satisfiedtill we had seen more of this cave; so, after further consultation, Jackand I determined to try if we could take down a torch with us, and setfire to it in the cavern. This we found to be an undertaking of no smalldifficulty; but we accomplished it at last by the following means:--First,we made a torch of a very inflammable nature out of the bark of a certaintree, which we cut into strips, and, after twisting, cemented togetherwith a kind of resin or gum, which we also obtained from another tree;neither of which trees, however, was known by name to Jack. This, whenprepared, we wrapped up in a great number of plies of cocoa-nut cloth, sothat we were confident it could not get wet during the short time itshould be under water. Then we took a small piece of the tinder, whichwe had carefully treasured up lest we should require it, as before said,when the sun should fail us; also, we rolled up some dry grass and a fewchips, which, with a little bow and drill, like those described before,we made into another bundle, and wrapped it up in cocoa-nut cloth. Whenall was ready we laid aside our garments, with the exception of ourtrousers, which, as we did not know what rough scraping against the rockswe might be subjected to, we kept on.

  Then we advanced to the edge of the rocks, Jack carrying one bundle, withthe torch; I the other, with the things for producing fire.

  "Now don't weary for us, Peterkin, should we be gone some time," saidJack; "we'll be sure to return in half-an-hour at the very latest,however interesting the cave should be, that we may relieve your mind."

  "Farewell!" said Peterkin, coming up to us with a look of deep butpretended solemnity, while he shook hands and kissed each of us on thecheek. "Farewell! and while you are gone I shall repose my weary limbsunder the shelter of this bush, and meditate on the changefulness of allthings earthly, with special reference to the forsaken condition of apoor ship-wrecked sailor boy!" So saying, Peterkin waved his hand,turned from us, and cast himself upon the ground with a look ofmelancholy resignation, which was so well feigned, that I would havethought it genuine had he not accompanied it with a gentle wink. We bothlaughed, and, springing from the rocks together, plunged head first intothe sea.

  We gained the interior of the submarine cave without difficulty, and, onemerging from the waves, supported ourselves for some time by treading-water, while we held the two bundles above our heads. This we did inorder to let our eyes become accustomed to the obscurity. Then, when wecould see sufficiently, we swam to a shelving rock, and landed in safety.Having wrung the water from our trousers, and dried ourselves as well aswe could under the circumstances, we proceeded to ignite the torch. Thiswe accomplished without difficulty in a few minutes; and no sooner did itflare up than we were struck dumb with the wonderful objects that wererevealed to our gaze. The roof of the cavern just above us seemed to beabout ten feet high, but grew higher as it receded into the distance,until it was lost in darkness. It seemed to be made of coral, and wassupported by massive columns of the same material. Immense icicles (asthey appeared to us) hung from it in various places. These, however,were formed, not of ice, but of a species of limestone, which seemed toflow in a liquid form towards the point of each, where it became solid. Agood many drops fell, however, to the rock below, and these formed littlecones, which rose to meet the points above. Some of them had alreadymet, and thus we saw how the pillars were formed, which at first seemedto us as if they had been placed there by some human architect to supportthe roof. As we advanced farther in, we saw that the floor was composedof the same material as the pillars; and it presented the curiousappearance of ripples, such as are formed on water when gently ruffled bythe wind. There were several openings on either hand in the walls, thatseemed to lead into other caverns; but these we did not explore at thistime. We also observed that the ceiling was curiously marked in manyplaces, as if it were the fret-work of a noble cathedral; and the walls,as well as the roof, sparkled in the light of our torch, and threw backgleams and flashes, as if they were covered with precious stones.Although we proceeded far into this cavern, we did not come to the end ofit; and we were obliged to return more speedily than we would otherwisehave done, as our torch was nearly expended. We did not observe anyopenings in the roof, or any indications of places whereby light mightenter; but near the entrance to the cavern stood an immense mass of purewhite coral rock, which caught and threw back the little light that foundan entrance through the cave's mouth, and thus produced, we conjectured,the pale-green object which had first attracted our attention. Weconcluded, also, that the reflecting power of this rock was that whichgave forth the dim light that faintly illumined the first part of thecave.

  Before diving through the passage again we extinguished the small pieceof our torch that remained, and left it in a dry spot; conceiving that wemight possibly stand in need of it, if at any future time we shouldchance to wet our torch while diving into the cavern. As we stood for afew minutes after it was out, waiting till our eyes became accustomed tothe gloom, we could not help remarking the deep, intense stillness andthe unutterable gloom of all around us; and, as I thought of thestupendous dome above, and the countless gems that had sparkled in thetorch-light a few minutes before, it came into my mind to consider howstrange it is that God should make such wonderful and extremely-beautifulworks never to be seen at all, except, indeed, by chance visitors such asourselves.

  I afterwards found that there were many such caverns among the islands ofthe South Seas, some of them larger and more beautiful than the one Ihave just described.

  "Now, Ralph, are you ready?" said Jack, in a low voice, that seemed toecho up into the dome above.

  "Quite ready."

  "Come along, then," said he; and, plunging off the ledge of the rock intothe water, we dived through the narrow entrance. In a few seconds wewere panting on the rocks above, and receiving the congratulations of ourfriend Peterkin.